| Welcome
to the December 15, 2004 issue of The Total View
Published by Success
Performance Solutions, Written by Ira S. Wolfe
New! Human Resources Blog
- We're very excited to announce our new Human
Resources Blog and Perfect
Labor Storm Blog where we can post daily (and more often) human
resource updates, news, and Perfect Labor Storm facts. Reply
to this email how to syndicate our blogs on your commercial websites
or intranets.
What's Inside
1. Twas 10
Days Before Christmas - A Tale According to DISC
2. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #311 to #315
3. Useful Links, Helpful
Tools - NEW! Background Checks/Customer
Service Excellence
4. In The News! Major Labor Shortage
5. How to Hire Employees
With A Positive Attitude
6. The Art of Giving and Receiving Feedback
7. You don't need a huge budget and staff to hire the
best employees
8. Over 250 Supervisors
Have Attended Managing to Excel Workshops
9. Fall Workshop and Speaking Schedule
10. Wondering if you have the right people on your team?
1. Twas
10 Days Before Christmas - A Tale According to DISC
Ten days and counting ‘til Christmas day. Sales staff, beleaguered
from the crush that started on Black Friday, prepare themselves
for the impending frenzy of last-minute shoppers. How bad will it
be? Using the DISC model, I can make some predictions based on the
behavioral styles of the shoppers. Remember DISC identifies
four behavioral styles that define how each of us responds to
a job, a task, stress and, believe it or not, even shopping.
According to DISC theory, millions of people will purchase goods
and services—on-line, by phone, or in person—during
the next 10 days in one of four styles. There is no magic or hocus-pocus
to identifying these styles. All you need to do is look and listen.
Here are a few examples of DISC shopping styles in action:
The high D behavioral style says “Ten days? What's the big
deal? There's plenty of time left.” D types love the challenge.
Ironically, the remarkable emotion of D behavioral style is a short
fuse – traffic jams, long lines, crowded stores and D types
don’t mix. Internet shopping is tailor made for these direct,
results-focused individuals. Gift cards and certificates are near
perfect because they are much more efficient and they believe can’t
go wrong with cash or its equivalent. It's never a surprise to find
high D behavioral types doing last minute shopping on Christmas
Eve. It’s easy to spot this shopper – he’s the
one on the lightening strike mission. Then again, the D behavioral
style person might cajole his administrative assistant to make the
shopping list, check it twice, and be Santa’s little helper.
High D behavioral types give gifts that identify with increased
productivity.
The high I behavioral type loves the holiday season, and the shopping,
parties, and crowds that go with it. Shopping is an event, a day
out at the mall. The I behavioral type plans a shopping trip with
the attention normally given to planning a wedding. Shopping begins
early and centers on meals. After all, how can you possibly shop
without a big breakfast, numerous breaks for snack and lunch, lunch,
wrapping up the day with a sit-down dinner? By the end of the day,
the high I behavioral type has had a great time regardless of the
success of paring down the gift list. The High I person is optimistic.
Ten shopping days means at least 10 more trips to the mall. There’s
always time for shopping! The high I behavioral type is highly influenced
by those gifts with the most attractive wrappings, even if what's
inside is not always practical. You can be sure he/she's an I if
you hear, "I just couldn't resist buying it. It had my name
all over it. I hope you like it too."
The high “S” behavioral style favors handcrafted gifts
and homemade food. Christmas shopping begins and ends early. This
steady, methodical shopper makes lists, clip coupons, and maps out
a shopping itinerary before leaving the house. Although Black Friday
marks the start of the shopping season for most consumers, December
26th is the right time to get a head start on next year’s
shopping list. The S behavioral style kicks into high shopping gear
right after Labor Day and with few exceptions, gifts are bought,
wrapped, and shipped before Thanksgiving. December is set aside
for making cookies and preparing Christmas dinner and making a list.
On Dec. 15, the high S behavioral style thinks, “Only eleven
days until after-Christmas sales begin.”
The high C and S behavioral styles share shopping styles. C behavioral
personalities work to avoid big crowds and don’t understand
how anyone can leave shopping to the last minute. The gifts they
choose differentiate these behavioral styles. S personalities give
gifts with a personal touch. The more practical C behavioral type
purchase gifts that will last, and makes certain there are appropriate
warranties. During September and October, they do research to find
the best-made, highest quality and most reasonably priced gift.
These logical analytical types prefer to give gifts with a proven
track record and can’t understand why anyone would waste money
on this year’s fad.
If any of these types seem familiar, that is because they are. DISC
is the universal language and dates back to....well as far back
as Christmas itself. Learn more about DISC
and its history here or contact us to receive a FREE
DISC report.
2. Perfect
Labor Storm Alerts #311 to #315
Visit
our blog, too.
Fact #311:
Companies with low morale are more likely to experience unscheduled
absenteeism due to stress (15 percent). (Source: CCH Inc.)
Fact #312: Employees showing up sick for work (presenteeism)
is a far bigger problem for companies with low morale - 52 percent
of organizations with poor/fair morale compared to 31 percent with
organizations with good/very good morale. (Source: CCH Inc.)
Fact #313: 39 percent of employers said presenteeism
is a problem in their organizations.
(Source: CCH Inc.)
Fact #314: About half the full time workforce gets
no paid sick days. (Source: U.S. Department of Labor)
Fact #315: The number of employers offering emergency
back-up child care or child care when employees have sick family
members has dropped from 14 percent in 2001 to 9 percent in 2004.
(Source: SHRM)
Don't be caught in storm
without all the facts. "The
Perfect Labor Storm Fact Book: Why Worker Shortages Won't Go Away"
is a must-read leading edge forecast that predicts workforce trends
for decades to come. Order
your copy today - Only $7.95.
3. Useful
Links, Helpful Tips - 100
Activities and Actions for
Customer Service Excellence and Background
Checks
NEW!
100
Activities and Actions for Customer Service Excellence
In our increasingly competitive
business world, it is beoming more and more important to provide
the best possible service to customers. Your customer service
representatives are in a unique position to keep your customers
happy and coming back.
With Learning Points: 100 Activities and Actions for Customer Service
Excellence, you can be sure your employee know exactly what they
need to do in any situation to provide the quality of service your
company expects. And your customers deserve.
These fun, engaging, and easy-to-use activities take only minutes
to complete. They contain a wealth of insights, tips, and
guidanc that will create employees who....
- Understand the principles of customer service and how to apply
them to build rapport, solve problems, and treat the customer
with respect.
- Know how to keep customers by removing obstacles to customer
service, really listening, finding the root causes of problems,
and never taking short-cuts.
- Bring to the job knowledge of new ways to do business - from
the Internet and voice mail to cellular phones, virtual meetings,
and beyond.
- Add value to everything they do by providing extra touches,
making things right, continuously improving and delivering outstanding
service - even when they're busy.
Order 100
Activities and Actions for Customer Service Excellence
To provide our clients
with one-stop shopping for employee evaluation from pre-employment
to career succession, we are very pleased to introduce our new partnership
with Information
Architects,
a leading provider of Employment Screening and Background Investigations.
Services include:
- Employment Verification
- Criminal Records Search
- Civil Records Search
- Workers Comp Search
- SSN Verification
- Credit Reports
- DMV Reports
- Bankruptcy Search
- Degree Verification
- Professional License Verification
- Drug Screening
Learn more about background
checks here.
4. In the
News!
Coming
Soon to a Location Near You: Major Labor Shortage -
Featured in HRWire,
November 1, 2004
Business2Business - November
2004
What
Is Keeping Human Resource Professionals Awake at Night?
(This original article
written by Ira S. Wolfe was the November 2004 cover story.)
Fort Wayne Journal Gazette
- October 31, 2004
Firms
probing employees' pasts
5. Hire
Employees With A Positive Attitude
SELECT Associate System
is a pre-employment screening system to identify work-related behaviors
such as Positive Service Attitude, Accountability, Frustration Tolerance,
Acceptance of Diversity, Multi- tasking and more. It also includes
a Validity Check and the Integrity Index. Each customized report
includes a step by step interview guide including recommended interview
questions. The following report versions are available:
Customer Service
Administrative Support
Retail Sales Associates
Entry Level Retail Management
Call Centers
Production & Distribution
Healthcare
Personal Service
Convenience Store Associates
Hospitality
Office Staffing
Learn how
to hire employees with a positive attitude here.
6. The Art
of Giving and Receiving Feedback
Employee appraisals are
one of the most dreaded activities a manager has to do. On top of
that, there are dozens of traps managers fall into. Click on the
link below for tips on "The Art of Giving and Receiving Feedback"
"The Art of Giving and Receiving
Feedback" is just one of hundreds of pages of reproducible facts,
tips and sample evaluation forms included in Janus Performance Managerment
System Volume 1.
Begin to improve your employee
appraisal process today with the Janus Performance Management System.
Order Volume 1 today and save $50. Or order Volumes 1 -2 -3 and
save $200.
More tips for managers on
completing successful
employee evaluations. (Download a one page excerpt from the
Janus Performance Management System.)
7. You don't
need a huge budget and staff to hire the best employees
Eliminate The Hassles and Headaches Associated With Screening Candidate
with Total APS.
The Total Applicant Processing System enables the small and medium
sized employer to do online recruiting and screen applicants with
customizable and scorable filtering questions with a click of the
mouse. Save time and money by qualifying candidates before
you interview.
Use Total APS to recruit
and screen applicants for your next job opening.
8. Over 250
Supervisors Have Attended Managing to Excel Workshops
Just announced!
M2E Team Building Workshops at Beard Miller Company (York, PA) beginning
January 18, 2005. Call Heather at 717.846.7000 for more information.
Ever since Success Performance Solutions introduced Managing to
Excel in 2002, Central PA supervisors and managers have been learning
and developing proficiency in the twelve competencies that highly
effective managers and supervisors have that average performers
don't.
To read more about Managing
to Excel, visit Managing to Excel - Management
Competency Workshops.
Managing to Excel is also
available for purchase by in-house trainers and human resource professionals.
The per participant cost per program is as low as $20!
9.
Fall 2004 Workshop and Speaking Schedule
January 16, 2005 - 2005
International Builders Show, Orlando, FL
February 28, 2005 - IQPC''s
Best Practices in Disease Management, Las Vegas, NV
10.
Wondering if you have the right people on your team?
Everyone wants to build the High
Motivation Employee Team. Do it with team building activities
packaged exclusively for small businesses and home businesses.
Contact Information:
Success Performance Solutions 2481 New Holland Pike, Suite 2, Lancaster,
PA 17601
email: tv@super-solutions.com
voice: 717.656.4632
web: http://www.super-solutions.com
To learn more about Success Performance Solutions or read back issues
of The Total View, stop by our website at www.super-solutions.com.
Order your personal copy of Understanding
Business Values and Motivators.
Order your personal copy of The
Perfect Labor Storm
Ira S. Wolfe. 2004 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution
by permission only.
Syndication available
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